Pros And Cons Of The Affordable Care Act

Improved Essays
In March 2010, the Affordable Care Act (ACA), the nation’s health reform law, was signed into action by President Barack Obama. The basis of the health reform was to expand and improve health insurance coverage while controlling costs. Therefore, many individuals have interpreted that the ACA is just about insurance cost and coverage. These individuals were somewhat right, however; an emphasis toward population health is a theme that runs throughout many aspects of the ACA. In fact, the ACA gives unprecedented attention to and funding for public health. As the implementation of Affordable Care Act moves forward, it is significantly changing the way the United States supports the health of its citizens. Two of the most important provisions from the ACA that directly benefit …show more content…
Features of the ACA that both directly and indirectly target public health will be illustrated in this essay. While opinions can be formed, it’s really too soon to say how much of an effect these measures will have on the health of U.S. citizens.
Expanding Coverage and Expanding Public Health
Expanded coverage has been the central driving force behind the Affordable Care Act and rightfully so. Prior to the ACA, in 2009, 50 million people lacked health coverage and care (Kaiser & Tolbert, 2010). With the goal of seeing better health outcomes across the entire population, providing expansion of coverage and access to services was inevitable. To improve access to healthcare and mend disparities, there are specific ACA provisions that expand affordable health insurance options, improve gaps in Medicare, and expand Medicaid to address all low-income Americans. Most health plans are now required

Related Documents

  • Improved Essays

    Hcm/590 Assignment 2

    • 991 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act: Three Modifications to Health Policy and the Impact of these Changes Written Assignment 2 – Week 2 Ashley Calhoun Health Policy, Politics, and Reform, HCM 590 Professor Dr. Claudette Andrea May 6, 2018 Introduction The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act signed by Obama in 2010 would forever bring change to healthcare in the U.S. We will discuss three of what I believe to be some of the most impactful changes that occurred because of the ACA: Individual mandate, extension of dependent coverage and expanded Medicaid coverage.…

    • 991 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The Affordable Care Act (ACA) was put into law in 2010. The ACA was meant to make healthcare accessible to all United States Citizens by lowering monthly premium costs, allowing any pre-existing condition to get coverage, and by expanding the scope of health care professionals (?). In addition to increased accessibility, the ACA includes guidelines for preventative healthcare. Free preventative care includes OB-GYN services, birth control, and emergency room visits even when made out of network (cite). The ACA provides a national marketplace where customers can go to shop for insurance plans.…

    • 656 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Hc1 Unit 1 Research Paper

    • 763 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Health Law’s Eight New Changes HC1: In September of 2010, under the implementation of the Affordable Care Act, the government made eight new changes to its health laws (Carey, 2010). These changes have affected Americans in different ways, depending on the insurance coverage that each individual has (Carey, 2010). The ACA included changes such as raising the age requirement for children on their parent’s insurance plan to twenty-six, prohibiting insurers from denying children coverage due to a pre-existing medical condition,, and prohibiting insurers from canceling an individual’s coverage due to sickness (Carey, 2010). Insurers also cannot charge co-pays for preventative services such as cancer screenings and the individuals get the right to choose their primary physicians and specialists, not the insurer (Carey, 2010).…

    • 763 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    In a state with a large quantity of uninsured, the Affordable Care Act would provide important benefits. The Affordable Care Act goal is to make sure everyone in America has insurance, and it will make it easier for those without insurance to receive it. This will help reduce the high rates of uninsured within the state of Florida. A major goal that Act achieves is reducing the number of children that are without insurance (Nordrum). Numbers of uninsured have already declined since the act’s inception in 2010.…

    • 1673 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    In 2010 the Affordable Care Act became one of the most talked about pieces of legislation that has brought many mixed reviews. Healthcare is a necessity that each of us need to maintain our lives. While we have an excellent source of healthcare service in the United States, it’s the access to that healthcare that has been a problem for many American’s. There are countries that have already turned to government healthcare. The Affordable Care Act was designed to help each of us have the access to Health care that we have not been able to afford in the past.…

    • 1011 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The Controversy of ObamaCare I. What is ObamaCare? ObamaCare is the casual name for The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, a health change law set apart on March 23, 2010, by President Barack Obama. - ObamaCare (the Affordable Care Act) is a US social protection change law that develops and improves access to care and checks spending through bearings and expenses. The Affordable Care Act's basic focus is on outfitting more Americans with access to sensible therapeutic scope, upgrading the way of restorative administrations and medicinal scope, controlling the social insurance scope industry, and lessening human administrations spending in the US.…

    • 410 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    My news analysis paper focuses on the falling uninsured rate. With the passage of the Affordable Care Act , millions of uninsured Americans gained health insurance by purchasing coverage through the open market. Despite those achievements, many, especially low-income individuals, remain without coverage due to rising premiums. Hispanics and blacks still experienced lower access to care than whites. However, most uninsured Americans are ineligible because their state did not participate in the Medicaid expansion option for low-income individuals.…

    • 167 Words
    • 1 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Great Essays

    The act being implemented by President forces people to obtain their own health insurance and if they aren’t covered by a government connected program, they would be risking punishment . There also may be possible changes for Medicare and Medicaid in terms of “instituting premiums for Medicaid beneficiaries, tightening standards for eligibility, and having some part of the Medicaid population purchasing coverage on exchanges” . President Donald Trump is planning on implementing the “American Patients First” Plan in which he states will apparently decrease the cost of drugs. The Trump administration has also taken steps in order to decrease the effectiveness of Obamacare and the Affordable Care Act, by loosening regulations on short term insurance . Trump’s administration faces many oppositions ranging from hospital groups to health insurance companies, as Trump wants to change Medicaid as we know it…

    • 1208 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Great Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Also, according to the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services, “The PCIP program provided health coverage options to individuals who were uninsured for at least six months, had a pre-existing condition, and had been denied coverage (or offered insurance without coverage of the pre-existing condition) by a private insurance company. Now, thanks to the Affordable Care Act, health insurance plans can no longer deny anyone coverage for their pre-existing condition”. “Obamacare” has a conflict theorist perspective- the theory suggests that social inequality (gender, race, class, age) and overall health inequality (pre-existing conditions such as, asthma, diabetes, cancer, and pregnancy) characterizes the quality of healthcare a person can receive. On the PPACA, it is illegal to charge women different rates than men, stops insurance from dropping you when you are sick, improves Medicare for…

    • 495 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The U.S Healthcare System is a very unique but complicated network of various health care providers. It includes profit and non-profit private owned hospitals, government hospitals, urgent care centers, primary care practices, specialty treatment centers, hospice services, and pharmacies. Majority of Americans pay for medical services through private insurance provided by theirs, their spouse or parent’s employer, which they have to pay a partial monthly premium cost. Individuals with low income are eligible to can buy private insurance exchange plans in with an affordable cost under the Affordable Care Act (ACA), also known as Obamacare. This Act was signed into law by President Barack Obama, the goals of this health care reform are to…

    • 251 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    There are many public policy problems that exist in the United States today. One public policy problem is the Affordable Care Act, which is also known as Obama Care. It is a U.S healthcare reform law that expands and improves access to healthcare spending through regulation and taxes. The Affordable Care Act provides Americans with access to affordable health insurance, improving and regulating the health insurance industry, and reducing health care spending in the United States. The objective of Affordable Care Act is to expand health insurance coverage to an estimated 32 million uninsured Americans.…

    • 1464 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Despite spending over 18% of the GDP on healthcare (Press, 2013) the US is ranked last among 11 other countries in terms of access, equity, quality, efficiency, and healthy lives according to a recent Commonwealth Fund report (Mahon & Fox, 2014). The countries include Australia, Canada, France, Germany, the Netherlands, New Zealand Norway, Sweden Switzerland, and the United Kingdom (Mahon & Fox, 2014). Overall, we as a nation seem to be spending more than all other major world leaders on our healthcare and yet the quality and effectiveness is still lacking. The goal of the ACA is to slow the increase in healthcare spending while also increasing the healthcare access and quality for the…

    • 1470 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The debate about providing health insurance for everyone is a heated debate. Personally, I do not think that people have a right to health insurance, but everyone should have an opportunity to gain health insurance, if they prefer. The previous system of delivering healthcare was in desperate need of reformation, but the approach of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) is too drastic and has strained an already stressed system. As a country, programs should be put into place to help the disabled, elderly, poor and working poor gain access to healthcare at rates that are affordable to their current situation. One of the biggest advantages of having access to healthcare is that people are able to seek medical care about health issues when the problem first occurs and before the health issue becomes serious (HealthcareResaearchFunding.org, 2013).…

    • 826 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Great Essays

    The right to affordable health care is as sacrosanct as the right to be free, if not more. The most important issue is making medical care a right for everyone at an affordable price. American health care has an insurance-based system; thus, to get affordable and efficient medical help, you should be insured. Currently, there are about 44 million uninsured Americans. According to Elizabeth Bradley, the author of the book The American Health Care Paradox, the paradox of today’s system is that “United States spends so much on health care but continues to lag behind in health outcomes” (33).…

    • 1634 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Great Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Healthcare Expensive Essay

    • 1122 Words
    • 5 Pages

    “An estimate done by the Census Bureau’s, said that thirty-three million Americans lacked health insurance in 2014 reflects a significant and welcome drop from the forty-two million it reported as uninsured in 2013,” said Dr. Robert Zarr, president of Physicians for a National Health Program, today (More Americans gain health coverage, but many can’t afford to use it: doctors group). In this time of rising health care costs, a great amount of Americans experience troubles or difficulties paying for needed health care services. With the costs that are expected to continue rising, changes happening to private insurance plans and public…

    • 1122 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays